United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc and the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) have assured small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that the 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair would bring far-reaching benefits that will transform their businesses to the next level.
UBA’s Head of Group Consumer Retail Business, Jude Anele, who gave this assurance on Tuesday at a press conference to officially herald the 2019 Lagos International Trade Fair as well as unveil sponsors of the trade fair, said the bank has put in place various service offerings to guarantee that this year’s fair provides a veritable platform to catalyse businesses to new highs.
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He explained that the 33rd edition of Lagos International Trade Fair scheduled to commence on November 1 is expected to provide an avenue for networking, trade, and investment bound to boost business activities in Africa’s largest economy and by extension, Africa.
While ensuring that SMEs maximise their presence at the fair, Mr Anele explained that UBA would provide uninterrupted banking services during the two-week event, and also provide advisory services to the small and medium entrepreneurs, fundamental to achieving their business goals.
He said: “Worthy of mention is that merchants and entrepreneurs from other African countries and abroad would be able to conduct their transactions seamlessly without currency exchange hassles, using the extensive reach of UBA as a pan African bank with presence in key commercial capitals in the world.
“We have realised that critical to the success of SMEs in Africa is not necessarily access to finance, but their understanding of business and accounting mechanisms, process and procedures critical to their growth and existence especially on e-commerce, tax management, and bookkeeping and access to funding, and these are issues which we are trying to address.”
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Speaking on the ease of payment during the event, especially with African companies from outside Nigeria, Anele disclosed that UBA has successfully put in place solutions that would see ease of payment within Africa.
“UBA will be deploying state-of-art Point of Terminals (POS) configured towards ensuring merchants receive immediate values in currencies of their choice,” he said.
The bank further said that it has reached an agreement with the organisers of the fair to give 20% discount to its small and medium business customers who register to showcase their products and services at the fair.
A key activity at this year’s fair is the Africa Special Day, to be organised by UBA to promote Intra-African Trade.
Also speaking, the chairman, Trade Promotion Board, Gabriel Idahosa promised that the 33rd edition of West Africa’s flagship fair would bring utmost value to entrepreneurs and businesses in Nigeria and beyond as he acknowledged the massive support being provided by corporate organisations such as UBA.
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Speaking further on the partnership with UBA, he said: “The LCCI and UBA have partnered to give exciting services to visitors and exhibitors at the fair. UBA is a foremost Pan African financial institution operating in 20 African countries, the United Kingdom and the USA and France, thus offering unique services to the delight of visitors and exhibitors during the fair.”
According to Idahosa, 40,000 square metres of exhibition spaces are available with over 2,000 exhibitors from 16 African countries and 200 foreign exhibitors are expected in Lagos.
